On Wednesday morning we woke up to POURING rain. It was dark and cloudy and wet and we were slightly discouraged. We had reservations for horseback riding at 12:30, and we decided to go ahead with our plans, but also tentatively knowing that they may be cancelled from the rain.
We found a great pancake house for a late breakfast/brunch before heading over for our horseback riding reservations.
I struggled to find a place that would allow our two year old to go horseback riding, but I finally found The Smoky Mountain Deer Farm and Exotic Petting Zoo. When we arrived, we had to sign a waiver, get weighed, and then wait just a few minutes for our horses to be prepped. The rain had let up and it was a PERFECT overcast day- WITH NO CROWDS!
Theo and Kiah shared a horse, Ezra and I shared a horse, and Tera had her own horse. I thought they would tie the reins of Tera’s horse to a lead horse, but nope- she got to hold the reins and all. She was a natural and did such an amazing job!
It was about a 40 minute ride, which was perfect – the legs were just starting to go numb but we weren’t quite tired of it yet. The horses were so well trained and the guide let us all around the exotic deer farm. It was too cloudy/rainy to see much of a Smoky Mountain view, but it was still the perfect day for a horse ride.
We all LOVED the horseback riding so much that we all agreed it was the favorite part of our vacation.
Horseback riding was finished by 1:30, and Ezra needed a nap, so we hopped in the car and decided to drive the Roaring Fork motor nature trail. It is a one way drivable (or bike able) trail that has several different interesting stopping points like a farmstead, hiking trails, scenic overlooks, etc. We had originally wanted to bike the Cade’s Cove loop, but it was so far from where we were staying that we went for the Roaring Fork loop instead. And it was too rainy and Ezra was still a little bit too touch and go with his asthma for us to bike it. So we decided to drive it instead!
We finally found the start of the Roaring Fork motor loop and decided that we wanted to do a hike. Somehow we stopped at the first hiking trail- Rainbow Falls. I’m not sure what we were thinking. The sign said 2.7 miles to the falls. That seemed doable enough. We also were aware that it would be 2.7 miles back. What we didn’t think about is that the hike was UP a MOUNTAIN. And, boy, do I mean UP A MOUNTAIN.
Here we are: smiling. Take note of those energetic, refreshed bodies and those naive smiles because you are going to see them dissolve quickly as the story progresses!
At the beginning of the trail, we frequently saw other people, but the further we went, the less people we saw. Since Ezra was still struggling with his asthma, Theo carried Ezra the entire hike. Yes, the entire hike. Tera and Kiah walked all the way themselves.
After an hour of straight up hiking (little to no breaks) UP HILL, we thought for sure we must be getting close to the top. We decided to ask the next person coming down if they made it all the way, and if so how long. They paused, looked at us, and told us we were almost at the halfway point!! HA! We were so tired, wet, and just thought we were soooo much closer than we already were. We were also frustrated that the trail had no markings. It was obvious how to stay on the trail, but we just wanted some indications of how far we had gone and how far we still had to go.
We got to a bridge and I wanted to give up. I thought no way could we keep going, only to also have to turn around and go all the way back down. And I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m going to say it again: it was a steep uphill climb. This was not a flat Ohio hike. This was a hike straight up a mountain.
At this bridge, we ran into a family and the Mom actually had a watch that had exact distances marked. She told us it was exactly 0.9 miles to the falls at the top. Having a solid number in our head made it a little bit easier to choose to continue on. Yes, we are crazy.
Not so smiley anymore, huh?
As we got closer to the top, people passing us coming down were SO encouraging. “You are almost there! Great job! Wow, what troopers! You must be the youngest kids on this mountain!”, etc. It was fantastic- like having a personal cheering squad. It seriously gave us the strength to finish the last little bit!
And then we turned the last corner and there she was: Rainbow Falls!
We stayed at the top for about 1 minute and then began the trek back down. Did I also mention that we didn’t bring anything with us? No water, no snacks, and no inhaler for Ezra. I didn’t mention it because I didn’t want you to panic at the beginning of the story. But now you can panic. As we begin to go down the mountain – 2.7 miles and about 2 hours from the car – Ezra starts to have breathing difficulties. Trust me when I say we practically ran down off that mountain. Ezra regulated himself and it ended up being fine, but there were a few minutes when we were slightly panicking at our lack of planning.
But…this will go down in history as one of our favorite family memories. That time we hiked farther and faster than we ever thought possible. 5.5 miles with an elevation change of 4000 feet took us 3 hours with 3 small children.
As we were hiking down, a thick fog descended on the mountain. Someone else on the trail remarked that it was like being in Lord of the Rings. It was incredible!
The longest 2.7 miles of our lives. HA! I can’t wait to go back and re-hike that trail with some proper planning and a baby carrier and/or older children.
We got some takeout food and headed back to the cabin and took a well-deserved dip in the hot tub. Don’t worry, the kids were really only in the hot tub for an actual “dip”, it was very short.
And that was a wrap on day 4 in Gatlinburg! We had only one day left and it was supposed to be a high of 40 with snow. Stay tuned for Part 5!